Bahamas

China’s engagement with Trinidad and Tobago

The increasingly negative tone of the once-close relationship between the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago coincides with an expansion of the Caribbean country’s economic, political, and security relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including numerous ongoing Chinese works projects. These include a $500 million Chinese-built drydock and $102 million industrial park in La Brea, significant Chinese positions in the telecommunications sector, gifts of hundreds of police motorcycles, purchases of Chinese buses, and rumors of the PRC acquiring the defunct Petrotrin refinery in Trinidad and Tobago. While the nation is still a functioning democracy, the Rowley regime’s embrace of easy Chinese money, as well as the increasingly dangerous and unpredictable regime in neighboring Venezuela, raises concerns about oil-rich Trinidad and Tobago, strategically located at the entrance of the lesser Antilles. If unchecked, China’s expanding engagement in the country risks leaving a series of economic white elephants and leaving the country under a heavy debt burden. But there are steps the U.S. can take to help.